Farmers who are members of the Rural Coordination attempted to block the Place de l’Etoile, at the top of the Champs-Elysées in Paris, on the morning of Friday March 1, with bales of straw and tractors around the Arc de Triomphe, before the last weekend of the Agricultural Show.
Axel Masson, a breeder in Loir-et-Cher, explained to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that there were around a hundred gathered at 4 a.m. Friday morning “in calm and with respect”. A police source confirmed that the farmers arrived in light vehicles and pick-ups around 4 a.m. and that bales of straw transported by small utility vehicles were left on the road. Eight tractors arrived around 6 a.m., she said.
Thirteen arrests took place, again according to the same source. Among them, Patrick Legras, one of the figures of Rural Coordination, confirms the union.
Around 8 a.m., police cars were still stationed at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe. Calm reigned on the square, and the Paris town hall services began to clean the area. Traffic at the top of the famous avenue was still blocked. There remained around fifty trade unionists, surrounded by the police. Around ten tractors from the Rural Coordination, with a French flag, were parked at the corner of Avenue Marceau, according to the AFP journalist.
“We are still not heard by the State”
“After the storming of the Bastille and that of Rungis, peaceful, rural coordination pays homage to the Arc de Triomphe to save our French agriculture. Stop the co-management which has caused nearly 800,000 cows to disappear from our meadows,” they accused on X at 6 o’clock, thus implicitly denouncing the weight of the FNSEA, the main agricultural union, on the sector. They also claimed to be “converging on Paris”. The union also calls for “quick action to save the 45% of farms in financial distress”.
“We went up this morning to lay a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe to pay tribute to all the farmers who commit suicide,” said Mr. Masson. “We are still not heard by the State,” he added. Vincent Carré, who grows wheat in the Chartres region, left home at 1 a.m.: “We didn’t tell anyone. We came this morning to mark the occasion (…) because of French and European agricultural policy.”
Christian Convers, secretary general of Rural Coordination, contacted by AFP, explains that “the farmers took this detour to go to the tomb of the unknown soldier”. But “they did not have time to go much further since the police immediately intervened and the discussion was cut short.”
This action takes place in a highly symbolic location, which was the scene of violence during the “Yellow Vests” crisis in 2018. It is carried out on the eve of the closing weekend of the Agricultural Show, the opening last Saturday by Emmanuel Macron was very rowdy.
“If it continues like this, the anger won’t stop.”
Rural Coordination, the 2nd French agricultural union, is known for being a vehement voice of peasant anger. Born in 1991 from a split with the majority union FNSEA, the Rural Coordination is a critic of free trade agreements and used to muscular actions.
The numerous measures and appeasement gestures agreed by the government have not been enough to silence the demands of farmers, who are not giving up. On Saturday, during the inauguration of the “largest farm in France”, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron pointed out those who had heckled his visit, many of whom were wearing the union’s characteristic yellow cap.
Faced with agricultural anger, which has been strong for several weeks, the executive is striving to respond to farmers who are demonstrating to obtain a better income and fewer administrative and environmental constraints, at the cost of concessions on pesticides, in particular.
Emmanuel Macron has notably spoken out in favor of floor prices in order to guarantee better incomes, but this idea is far from unanimous in the agricultural world. For their part, the banks have promised actions to loosen the financial stranglehold on the most fragile farms. “At the moment there is no outcome for the future. The show went quite well, but if it continues like this, the anger will not stop,” warns Mr. Convers.
